Cops: Woman Killed Husband to Marry Man Serving Life

Newser — Rob Quinn

A Missouri prison nurse who had an affair with a lifer may now face a life sentence of her own. Amy Murray, 40, has been charged with first-degree murder in the Dec. 11 death of husband Joshua Murray, Fox reports.

His body was found after a fire at the couple's home. Investigators determined that the fire was deliberately set and Joshua Murray was already dead, poisoned with antifreeze, when it broke out.

Police say Murray killed her husband because she wanted to marry Eugene Claypool, an inmate at Murray's workplace, the Jefferson City Correctional Center.

Investigators say that according to recordings of prison phone conversations, Murray, who has an 11-year-old son, told Claypool that she wanted to divorce her husband—and later told the inmate she could marry him because her husband was dead and "out of the picture," the News Tribune reports.

Murray and Claypool—who has been behind bars since 2001 for the murder of a 72-year-old lottery winner—also discussed hiring an attorney to secure his early release.